Inflation in Belgium amounts to 12.27%, highest since 1975
Inflation in October has gone up from 11.27% to 12.27%, reaching its highest level since June 1975, when it stood at 12.50%.
The consumer price index this month increases by 2.97 points or 2.37%.
Inflation based on the health index has increased to 12.27% from 11.25%.
The smoothed health index stood at 122.22 points in October. The central index for public service and social benefits, set at 120.73 points, was therefore exceeded.
The high inflation this month, as in recent months, is largely due to high energy prices. Energy currently has an inflation rate of 63.03% and accounts for 5.95 percentage points of the total inflation.
Furthermore, inflation for food products has also sharply increased in recent months. Inflation for food products (including alcoholic beverages) stands at 12.30% this month, The contribution of food products to inflation currently amounts to 2.37 percentage points.
Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stood at 6.50% in October, compared to 6.21% in September. This is a result of increased inflation for processed food and services.
The main price increases in October related to natural gas, electricity, motor fuels, meat, domestic heating oil, vegetables, clothing, dairy products, bread and cereals, fruit, private rents and restaurants and cafés. On the other hand, alcoholic beverages had a decreasing effect on the index.
Inflation was 12.27% in October compared to 11.27% in September and 9.94% in August. Inflation based on the health indexamounts to 12.27% this month compared to 11.25% in September and 9.70% in August. Inflation without energy rose to 6.97% compared to 6.44% in September and 5.99% in August. Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stood at 6.50% in October, compared to 6.21% in September and 5.74% in August.
Inflation for services has decreased from 5.38% to 5.22%. Inflation for rents now stands at 4.44%, up from 3.86%. Inflation for food products (including alcoholic beverages) stands at 12.30% this month, compared to 10.40% last month. This inflation has increased sharply in recent months. In November last year, it was still 0.47%. In particular, inflation for oils, fish, dairy products, bread and cereals and meat has sharply increased in recent months. Inflation for oils stands this month at 23.8%. In November, it was still 3.6%. For fish, inflation is now 11.8% compared to -0.4% in November. Inflation for dairy products amounts to 16.3% this month compared to 0.6% in November. For bread and cereals, it stands at 14.4% this month compared to 1.7% in November last year. Inflation for meat amounts to 12.5% this month compared to 0.8% in November 2021.
The sharp increase in inflation since autumn 2021 is largely due to energy products. Energy inflation is now running at 63.03%, compared to 60.54% last month and 49.81% in August. Electricity is now 84.7% more expensive than a year ago. Natural gas is 130.6% more expensive than in October 2016. The price of domestic heating oil, calculated based on a smoothed 12-month moving average, has increased by 57.7% in one year. Motor fuels are 18.1% more expensive than last year.
The high inflation is mainly due to the high energy prices. Energy currently has an inflation rate of 63.03% and accounts for 5.95 percentage points of the total inflation. Food, with an inflation rate of 12.30%, contributes 2.37 percentage points.
The price of natural gas has increased by 23.4% on average compared to the previous month. Prices for electricity have gone up by 12.5% on average this month.
The main group with the largest upward effect on inflation in October was ‘housing, water, energy’ with 4.60 percentage points. The largest downward effect was measured for “recreation and culture” with -0.72 percentage points.
The main group with the largest contribution to inflation is ‘Housing, water and energy’ with 5.93 percentage points. The lowest contribution to inflation is made by the main group ‘Communication’ with 0.00 percentage points.
The first inflation estimate according to the European harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP flash estimate) for Belgium amounts to 13.1% for October 2022.
Natural gas became 23.4% more expensive on average in October
Source: STATBEL
